Robert Motherwell Paintings and Collages: A Catalogue Raisonné 1941 – 1991 Volume 3 - Flipbook - Page 302
c616
c616
Maquette for the National
Gallery Mural
1977
Acrylic, pasted papers, and graphite on
canvas board
11 x 24 in. (27.9 x 61 cm)
inscriptions
Recto not signed, not dated
Verso: Robert Motherwell Sept 1977
artist’s studio number
c77-958
present owner
National Gallery of Art, Washington,
D.C. Gift of the Dedalus Foundation,
2004.9.5
provenance
Dedalus Foundation, 1991; National
Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2004
references
Carmean 1980, color illus. p. 70;
Motherwell in Carmean 1980, p. 71.
comments
This collage is one of two maquettes
Motherwell submitted to the National
290
collages
Gallery of Art in September 1977 in
response to a proposal for him to paint
a mural for the gallery’s new East
Wing building (see also Study for
Reconciliation Elegy, p955). Works for
the new building were also commissioned from Alexander Calder and Joan
Miró. Although Motherwell ultimately
rejected the idea of doing a brightly
colored painting, he initially favored it
over the more traditional black-andwhite Elegy format (see the Comments
for Reconciliation Elegy, p956). But he
subsequently changed his mind, noting,
“I felt that my first, colored maquette
conjoined with whatever Miró and
Calder would do, would make too
much a ‘period’ ensemble. . . . It would
‘date’ too much, as Art Nouveau or
Art Deco already have. My black and
white maquette was more timeless as
pure painting than my bright color and
collage” (Motherwell in Carmean
1980, p. 71).
c617
In Vermillion with Music
1977
Acrylic and pasted papers on canvas
mounted on board
30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 61 cm)
inscriptions
Recto, lower right: RM 77
artist’s studio number
c77-943
present owner
Unknown
provenance
Private collection, 1979; unknown
owner
solo exhibitions
Knoedler & Company, New York, 1978,
cat. no. 11, illus. p. 23.
group exhibitions
Douglas Drake Gallery, New York,
1988.
references
Frackman 1978, p. 24, illus. p. 24.
c617
comments
The sheet music in this collage is a
lithographically reproduced part of
the score for Stravinsky’s Le sacre
du printemps.
